Cult Fictions

Sonu Shamdasani looks into the documentary evidence of claims that Jung was a would be prophet around whom followers gathered in a hero cult, and finds that they are not well founded.

Claims that Jung was a would-be prophet around whom followers gathered in a hero cult have been revived in more extreme terminology, generating a great deal of attendant publicity, by Richard Noll. In this book, the author looks into the documentary evidence for Noll's claims.

'I urge those interested in analytical psychology and related fields to read this concise work. It models scrupulous investigation of history and displays the necessity and importance of thorough research. Sonu Shamdasani has provided another of his powerful contributions not only to the history of analytical psychology but also to our increased comprehension of the scope, complexity, and nature of our clinical practice.' - San Naifeh, Journal of Analytical Psychology'According to the advance publicity circulated by Noll's publishers, his books purport to be 'ground-breaking works of historical reconstruction' bringing Jungian scholarship to 'a new level of sophistication'. Sonu Shamdasani has demonstrated the hollow nature of this claim, and he is to be congratulated for making what is, by contrast, a balanced and meticulously researched contribution to the study of Jung and his psychology. It deserves to be widely read.' - Anthony Stevens, Journal of Analytical Psychology

Autorentext

Sonu Shamdasani is an historian of psychology, and currently a research fellow at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London. He is the editor of several books, including Jung's seminar The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga.

Klappentext

Controversial claims that C.G. Jung, founder of analytical psychology, was a charlatan and a self-appointed demi-god have recently brought his legacy under renewed scrutiny. The basis of the attack on Jung is a previously unknown text, said to be Jung's inaugural address at the founding of his 'cult', otherwise known as the Psychological Club, in Zurich in 1916. It is claimed that this cult is alive and well in Jungian psychology as it is practised today, in a movement which continues to masquerade as a genuine professional discipline, whilst selling false dreams of spiritual redemption. In Cult Fictions, leading Jung scholar Sonu Shamdasani looks into the evidence for such claims and draws on previously unpublished documents to show that they are fallacious. This accurate and revealing account of the history of the Jungian movement, from the founding of the Psychological Club to the reformulation of Jung's approach by his followers, establishes a fresh agenda for the historical evaluation of analytical psychology today.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 Cult and Association; Chapter 2 A Case of Mistaken Identity?; Chapter 3 'The Experiment Must Be Made'; Chapter 4 The Tribunal; Chapter 5 The Imitation of Christ; Chapter 6 A Text in Search of an Author; Chapter 7 Sister Maria; Chapter 8 Sister Maria;